How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Florida Personal Injury Lawyer?

If you’ve recently been hurt in an accident that wasn’t your fault, your friends and family might be telling you to hire a lawyer. However, when you’re struggling with physical pain, the inability to work, and ever-increasing medical bills, you might understandably be concerned about taking on yet another expense.

Fortunately, when you work with a personal injury lawyer, you pay nothing up front. That’s because accident and injury lawyers work on contingency. Attorneys who focus on other areas of the law — like tax law or criminal defense — often charge by the hour or charge a flat fee for services. When your lawyer works on contingency, you only pay if you win your case.

That may be a relief, but before you agree to work with, say, a top rated Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer, you should have an understanding of how much you’re likely to pay if your case is successful. So, what is the cost to hire a personal injury attorney in Florida? Here’s an in-depth look.

What Are Some of the Costs I Should Expect?

If you win your case, the cost to hire an attorney who specializes in personal injuries is often greater than the standard attorney’s fee. Over the course of your case, your attorney incurs a variety of costs. If your lawyer is unable to win your case, they foot the bill for these expenses — but if you win, you’ll likely be required to reimburse your lawyer.

That reimbursement comes out of your total compensation, so you won’t have to pay out of pocket. However, you should understand some of the costs you should expect if you win:

Administrative Expenses

“Administrative expenses” are incidental expenses that add up over the course of your case. They might include the following:

• Postage
• Legal research
• Travel
• Copies of documents related to your case
• Cost to create trial exhibits

The total cost of administrative expenses can vary considerably. If your case is quick and uncomplicated, you might only owe a few hundred dollars. However, for complex cases or those that take years, the cost can easily reach thousands of dollars.

Court Costs

Going to court costs money. Even just filing your case is likely to cost a few hundred dollars, and the cost to serve your lawsuit to the defendant(s) can be substantial. If your case goes to trial, you can expect to pay a daily stipend for jurors as well.

Expert Witnesses

If your attorney is able to settle your case out of court, you may not need to pay expert witnesses. However, if your case goes to trial, you will probably need to hire at least one expert witness to help substantiate your case.

Generally, the more complex your case, the more expensive your expert witnesses are likely to be. Most expert witnesses charge hundreds per hour, and between reviewing your case, preparing a report, and testifying during the trial, each expert witness can easily cost you thousands.

Depositions

A deposition involves gathering testimony from outside of court. If your lawyer conducts a deposition, they must pay the stenographer and purchase a copy of the transcript. This is usually about $500 in total.

Copies of Court Testimony

If you need to purchase copies of court transcripts, the cost can add up quickly. Each page usually costs a few dollars. That may not sound like much, but when you consider the fact that an entire day in court can easily produce hundreds of pages, it becomes clear that this can be a considerable expense.

Does Florida Have Rules for Contingency Fee Agreements?

Contingency fees are meant to ensure attorneys are fairly compensated for their role in each claimant’s case. However, without regulations, it would be very easy for attorneys to take advantage of their clients by charging high percentages of total compensation.

In addition to limiting the amount a lawyer may charge for the contingency fee itself, the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers establishes certain requirements for all contingency fee arrangements:

• A client is allowed to negotiate the fee agreement
• Any fee agreement must be in writing
• It must include the specific percentage the lawyer charges
• It must include an acknowledgment that the client has reviewed their rights
• It must have a clause that allows a client to cancel within three business days without being charged any fees

It’s important to note that Florida has special rules for cases involving medical malpractice. The Florida Constitution in Article 1 §26 imposes lower contingency fee limits for malpractice cases. This ensures that plaintiffs who have suffered substantial harm at the hands of incompetent doctors can keep more of the compensation awarded to them.

Are Contingency Fees Always the Same for Every Case?

Rule 4-1.5 of the Florida Bar prohibits lawyers from charging “clearly excessive” fees. In doing so, it also establishes rules for how much a contingency fee can be. These limits vary depending on the circumstances of the case:

If the Case Settles Before the Defendant Answers a Lawsuit

If you receive compensation before your lawsuit progresses past the filing stage, your attorney’s contingency fee may be up to the following:

• Compensation Up to $1 Million: 33 ⅓ %
• Compensation Between $1 Million and $2 Million: 30%
• Compensation Over $2 Million: 20%

Contingency fee caps for cases that settle early on are lower than those for cases that go to court. That’s because your attorney must put in less work to secure compensation for you.

If the Case Settles After the Lawsuit Answer (or Demand for Arbitration)

Cases that settle once the defendant answers the lawsuit or demands arbitration require more work on your attorney’s part. Once a defendant answers a lawsuit, the case is on its way to trial — and your lawyer must start preparing accordingly. As a result, caps on contingency fees are higher:

• Compensation Up to $1 Million: 40%
• Compensation Between $1 Million and $2 Million: 30%
• Compensation Over $2 Million: 20%

It’s worth noting that if your case must be decided at trial (and you win), the amount a judge orders the defendant to pay you is likely to be more than you’d receive if you settled the case.

If the Defendant Admits Liability but Disagrees on the Compensation to Be Paid

These cases have lower fee caps:

• Compensation Up to $1 Million: 33.33%
• Compensation Between $1 Million and $2 Million: 20%
• Compensation Over $2 Million: 15%

Any time the defendant admits liability, securing compensation is generally easier. As a result, lawyers must charge lower contingency fees.

Medical Malpractice Cases

Unlike some states, Florida allows plaintiffs in malpractice cases to keep a higher percentage of their compensation. If a lawyer wins a medical malpractice case, their contingency fees must adhere to the following limits:

• Compensation Up to $250,000: 30%
• Compensation Beyond $250,000: 10%

Even though contingency fees for medical malpractice cases are lower than those for other personal injury cases such as car accident claims, truck accident claims, or motorcycle accident claims, your total cost may not be much different than for another type of personal injury case.

Medical malpractice cases tend to be difficult to win, so your lawyer may need to hire multiple expert witnesses. Paying each expert witness can get very expensive very quickly — and their payment generally comes out of your settlement amount.

Benefits of Contingency Fee Arrangements for Injury Victims

Personal injury lawyers are one of the few types of attorneys who work on contingency. This kind of arrangement doesn’t just benefit lawyers — it also has a number of advantages for clients. Here’s a look at how contingency fee arrangements might benefit you:

You’ll Be Able to Access Quality Legal Help — Even if You Couldn’t Ordinarily Afford It

Unfortunately, many people assume they won’t be able to access quality legal help because they can’t afford it. They might not even look into legal representation, so they may never realize that they don’t have to pay up front to work with a skilled attorney.

In many fields of law, you have to be able to pay a substantial fee up front to work with a lawyer. However, you can work with a personal injury attorney even if you’re penniless.

There’s No Risk to You

When you work with a personal injury attorney, your interests are aligned. Your lawyer takes on all the risk associated with your case, so they have a strong incentive to win. Your money isn’t on the line in a personal injury case, but your attorney’s is.

You Don’t Pay for Anything Out of Pocket

Most injured people don’t have immediate access to large sums of money. And in many instances, it takes a substantial amount of cash to win a case. Fortunately, when your attorney works on contingency, they can handle the upfront costs; you only pay if you win.

Total Costs Are Predictable

Before you agree to work with a particular accident and injury lawyer, you must understand their contingency fee. While you might not know how much compensation you’ll receive from the beginning of your case, you’ll at least know what percentage your lawyer is entitled to if you win.

No Win, No Fee?

Working with a top rated Florida injury law firm might seem too good to be true; you have a chance of securing substantial compensation, but if you lose the case, you (generally) don’t have to pay anything.

However, it’s important to note that because they take on considerable risk, injury attorneys cannot simply take on every case they come across.

Instead, an attorney specializing in injury and accident claims will evaluate your case (usually during a free consultation) and make a decision as to whether they think they can win your case and think you would be entitled to sufficient compensation if you win.

Accident attorneys are often great at sizing up a case. However, sometimes they get it wrong. Naturally, you might wonder — what is the cost to hire the best personal injury lawyer in Florida if I lose my case? Is “No Win, No Fee” really accurate?

Most of the time, the answer here is yes. These types of attorneys understand that many injured people are suffering from considerable financial hardship, and they don’t want to risk compounding that hardship by charging their clients if they don’t win their case.

However, there are exceptions. Some personal injury attorneys may include clauses in their contracts that require you to reimburse them for certain expenses — like serving the lawsuit to the defendant or hiring expert witnesses.

Before you commit to a given attorney, you should make sure you have a thorough understanding of their fee agreement. While asking about fees can be helpful, it’s also important to take the time to carefully read the contract yourself.

If your lawyer forgets to disclose a particular fee and you sign the contract anyway, you might still be on the hook. When you take the time to read the contract, you can help protect yourself from unexpected expenses.

Reach Out to Our Fort Lauderdale Accident and Injury Lawyers Today

If you’ve been badly injured in an incident you didn’t cause, you might be able to receive compensation for lost wages, medical bills, and other injury-related expenses. However, there are no guarantees in the legal world, and your best chance of success is to work with an experienced personal injury lawyer with a track record of success.

At Schilling & Silvers Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, we focus on helping injured people get their lives back. We’re available 24/7 to talk to you about your potential personal injury claim. Call us today at 954.712.8877 or contact us online to book your free consultation.